


And They Lived (Happily Ever After)

by Chelsea Frew (chelseafrew)



Series: The Original Mpreg!Harry [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, implied past mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:51:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2704496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseafrew/pseuds/Chelsea%20Frew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Louis are on a mini-break with their kids. The power goes out, and the kids demand a story. The fathers, of course, comply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And They Lived (Happily Ever After)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [halolove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/halolove/gifts).



> Thanks so much to halolove for the prompts. You gave me a lot to work with, and I hope I did justice to what I decided to write. Thanks, also, to C for listening to me talk about this story and for giving me the idea which drove the whole thing and got me started. She also beta'd the story in record time, allowing me to post ahead of the deadline. Yay!!
> 
> Readers: the mpreg is implied in exactly one sentence of the story. Easy to imagine if mpreg is your kind of thing, easy to ignore if it isn't.
> 
> Happy holidays!!

"I'm a better skater," Sophie insisted as she preceded her sister into the cabin.

"No, you are not," Lily countered hotly.

"Girls!" Louis intervened, coming through the door and stepping between the six-and-a-half year old combatants. "You are both very fine skaters."

The girls continued to stare each other down, but stopped throwing insults at each other.

Harry came through the door last, shutting it to the snow blowing behind him with a booted foot. Cradling his bundle tight to his chest, he asked, "Who wants hot chocolate?"

"I do!" the twins cried simultaneously, instantly forgetting their argument.

"I do!" Louis added cheekily.

"Well, I'll put this one down while you all get all that wet gear off, then I'll make the hot chocolate," Harry said, already unwrapping the heaviest blanket from the baby in his arms and handing it to his husband. He met Louis' gaze and raised his eyebrows. "You got this?"

Louis nodded. "You take care of Izzy, and I'll take care of Double Trouble here."

Harry headed through the lounge toward their bedroom and Isabelle's crib.

"I am not trouble, Papa," Lily told Louis in her haughtiest voice, hands on her hips, green eyes flashing.

"That, my lovely Lilypad, is debatable," Louis told her with a grin.

"What's debatable mean?" Sophie piped up.

"It means get that coat off now so you're ready when Daddy's made the hot chocolate," Louis said, tugging the hat off of her head and releasing her brown curls, damp from playing outside in the snow.

With Louis' help, the girls shed their outerwear into a pile by the door. Harry would make him clean up the pile later, but just then, a bigger priority was building a fire and getting the twins nestled on the couch under a blanket.

A fire was blazing, and the girls were curled up on the couch happily sharing a book when Harry reappeared and headed into the small kitchen to make hot drinks for everyone.

"What do you want, Lou?" Harry called into the great room. "Tea or cocoa?"

"Tea, please," Louis requested. "Thanks, babe."

It wasn't long before Harry carried a tray boasting four steaming mugs and a plate of biscuits into the room where his family was gathered. He handed each of the eager girls some hot chocolate--warning them to be careful--and handed Louis some of the Yorkshire tea he'd made sure to stock the cabin with. He'd made hot chocolate for himself, and he warmed his hands on his mug as he settled onto the couch in the space between Louis and the twins.

They had barely begun sipping at their drinks when there was a loud bang outside. Less than a second later, the lights went out.

Several things happened all at once.

Louis said, "Shit!"

The twins--who would normally have been all about chastising Louis for cursing--worriedly began to ask what had happened. "Did the snow steal the electricity, Daddy?" Lily wondered, while Sophie wanted to know, "Papa, when will the lights come back on?"

The baby was woken by the loud bang and began screaming her lungs out.

"I'll go get her," Harry offered, already setting his drink down and rising from the couch.

This left Louis to deal with the older girls, both of whom were still clutching their hot chocolate tightly, eyes shining in the firelight as they looked up at Louis curiously.

"It's okay, girls; it's all going to be fine," Louis assured them. "I'm just going to peek outside to see if I can tell what happened, all right?"

They nodded in tandem, and Louis got up to open the front door. Peering out, he could tell that none of the houses around the lake had lights anymore, and judging by the sparks flying from the pole up by the road, a transformer had blown. The snow was coming down fast and furious, blown by a fierce wind. If Louis didn't miss his guess, he also spotted some lightning up in the clouds. Yeah, they weren't getting the power back any time before the storm died down.

He closed the door firmly and clapped his hands once to psych himself for being calm with the kids. "Okay, girls, looks like the power's going to be out for a little while."

"All night, Papa?" Lily inquired.

"I think so, Lil. But we have candles and torches and lots of firewood, and it's going to be just fine."

Harry reappeared with their still-crying five month old, sitting down with her in the same spot on the couch he'd vacated a few minutes earlier. "Can you get her a bottle, Lou? Maybe that will quiet her down."

"Sure," Louis agreed, moving into the kitchen, torch in hand, to fetch a bottle from the fridge. He thanked every deity he knew that the cabin had a gas stove as he filled a pan with water to heat the milk up.

When the bottle was a perfect temperature for the baby to drink, Louis returned to the lounge and handed it off to Harry. As soon as Harry popped the bottle in Izzy's mouth, she settled down. Both Louis and Harry sighed with relief.

"Lily, Sophie, why don't you help me find the candles and the torches so we can get around the cabin if we need to?" Louis suggested.

The twins happily trailed Louis to the storage closet in the back of the cabin. There, he filled their little hands with candles, matches, and a couple lighters while he took hold of the three torches he found. They carried their booty back to the lounge, setting it all on the coffee table.

"Great job, guys," Harry praised them. "Looks like we're good to go. We can have sandwiches for tea, then hang out by the fire until the power comes back on."

"Papa said it's going to be out all night!" Lily informed him.

"Then it will be like camping," Harry returned. "We can sit around the fire and tell stories. What do you say, girls? Sound like fun?"

Sophie and Lily both nodded excitedly.

"Well, then, Papa will get the sandwiches, and then we'll get started, okay?" Harry hoisted Izzy up to burp her before continuing to feed her the rest of her bottle.

"We can help, Papa!" Sophie proposed.

"Excellent."

Lily and Sophie each picked a torch and then Louis took the twins' free hands in each of his and led them into the kitchen. They quickly put together four turkey and cheese sandwiches. Lily put them on plates and carried them into the lounge on a tray, while Sophie carried two bags of crisps in for them to share. Louis brought bottles of water for all of them for when their hot drinks--well, lukewarm drinks, now--were gone.

"A meal fit for a king!" Harry exclaimed as he burped Izzy one last time, then cradled her in one arm so he could eat with the other.

They all sat cross-legged on the rug in front of the fire to eat. They were no more than two bites in before Lily begged, "Tell us a story!"

"Yes, Papa. Please, Daddy! A story," Sophie chimed in.

Harry and Louis smiled. "Okay, okay. A story it is," Louis relented easily. He gazed over at his husband. "Shall I start?"

"Go right ahead," Harry consented, his mouth full of sandwich.

Louis took his own bite of sandwich, thoughtfully chewing, trying to think of the best place to begin. Finally, it came to him. "Once upon a time, in a land way up north, there lived two knights, Sir Harold the Curly and Sir Lewis the Brave."

"Sir Lewis the Brave?" Harry interrupted with a chuckle and a smirk. "More like Sir Lewis the Foolish."

"I'm sorry," Louis intoned. "Sir Lewis was not foolish."

"Foolish, ridiculous, and just the slightest bit crazy," Harry soundly contradicted Louis' assertion.

"No, he was brave. Fearless, even. Sir Lewis the Brave and Fearless," Louis repeated confidently. "Now if you're quite finished…."

"I'm done. Go on," Harry allowed.

Louis cleared his throat and continued. "Sir Harold and Sir Lewis were two of the best knights in all the land, and to prove it, they entered a tournament, the Tournament of the X-Factor."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "The Tournament of the X-Factor? That doesn't sound very royal."

"Well, it was," Louis assured her. "It was run by King Simon, and it would be up to him and his council to declare which knight was the very best in all of the United Kingdom."

"Did they have to joust?" Sophie wondered aloud, her voice full of excitement. "They jousted in _A Knight's Tale_."

Harry met Louis' gaze with narrowed eyes. "You let them watch _A Knight's Tale_?"

"Of course I did." Louis spoke with great confidence. "Heath Ledger was a legend, and it's a very romantic movie."

"I'm not sure it's made for six year olds," Harry countered.

Louis waved his hand dismissively. "It was fine. They loved it. Right, girls?"

"Right, Papa," they dutifully replied.

Harry sighed. "You are incorrigible. All three of you."

"But you love us anyway," Louis responded, grinning.

Harry smiled softly. "That I do." He popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and got Izzy more settled in his arms; she was fast asleep now, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Sophie yanked on the arm of Louis' sweater. "Papa, you didn't answer my question. Did Sir Harold and Sir Lewis joust?"

"I'm sorry, sweet pea. Yes, they did. They jousted." Louis took another bite of sandwich before continuing. "The tournament had many stages. They had to work their way up to the big tournament, and both Sir Harold and Sir Lewis won their small contests. They got to go to London to take part in the next stage, Boot Camp."

"Boot camp?" Lily asked. "Did they have to wear boots and sleep outside?"

Harry chuckled, and Lily turned a hurt look on him for making fun of her question. He sobered to answer, "No, baby, Boot Camp was where they would train for the last two stages of the tournament. They practiced riding horses, archery, and working with lances, all of the things they would need to know to win the tournament."

"It sounds like fun," Sophie commented. "Horses are lovely."

"Yes, they are," Louis agreed. "Anyway…. At Boot Camp, Sir Lewis and Sir Harold met."

"Did they like each other?" Lily inquired excitedly.

"Right from the second they met at the outhouse," Louis said, meeting Harry's gaze and smiling softly.

"What's an outhouse?" Sophie wanted to know.

"A bathroom that's outside," Louis explained.

Sophie wrinkled her nose. "That's gross."

"Everybody's gotta go, monkey," Harry reminded her, and she shrugged in recognition of this truth.

"Did Sir Lewis and Sir Harold get to be friends?" Lily asked.

"Indeed they did," Louis assured her. "The very best of friends."

"Did they win at Boot Camp?" Sophie wondered aloud.

"No," Louis reported. He took a quick bite of his sandwich before going on. "They were asked to join a team instead. King Simon thought they would be more successful if they worked together in a group. So, they were put together with three other knights, Sir Nigel the Irish, Sir Malik the Mysterious, and Sir William the Sensible."

"Five people!" Lily counted. "Just like in your band with Daddy, Uncle Niall, Uncle Liam, and Uncle Zayn."

"Just like that," Louis concurred with a grin.

"They called themselves Five Knights Alive," Harry put in.

"Really?" Louis questioned Harry's choice of group name.

Harry nodded decisively. "Five Knights Alive."

Louis shrugged. "All right then. Five Knights Alive was invited to go to Spain to show what they could do together. King Simon would then decide whether or not the knights would be allowed to go back to London and compete in the final tournament."

"What would they win?" Sophie piped up curiously.

"They would get land and gold coins and the right to choose any knight or maiden in the kingdom they wanted to live happily ever after with," Harry fielded Sophie's query while Louis downed the last few bites of his sandwich.

Sophie and Lily both swooned just a little, making their fathers smile. They'd definitely managed to raise little romantics.

Louis continued spinning his tale. "So, in Spain, they worked as a team to battle the other teams who were trying to get through to the final. And it turned out each of them had a skill that helped them to win. Sir William was wizard with a bow and arrow, Sir Nigel was an expert knife thrower, Sir Malik could tame the wildest of horses, Sir Lewis was the best with a lance, and Sir Harold…. Well, Sir Harold could hoist a javelin like no other.

"Though each challenge was difficult, they impressed King Simon, and he told them they had a spot in the final tournament. They would have a chance to win," Louis told them with his best dramatic flair.

"Yay!" Lily and Sophie cheered.

"They were all so excited to get to the final," Louis went on, "but they knew they would have to work hard if they wanted to win."

"Just like we have to work hard at school," Lily commented.

Louis reached over to pull on Lily's ear playfully. "Exactly."

"So, what happened next?" Harry inquired cheekily. "Don't keep us in suspense, Papa."

Louis shot him a quelling look, but directly followed it up with a fond smile. "Well, Five Knights Alive practiced hard every single day, practicing their skills. Each week there was a small contest, and they made it through each week, and the challenges got harder and harder."

"Luckily," Harry jumped in, "the five knights got to be best friends. They helped each other, and they realised that being put together in a team was the greatest thing to ever happen to them. On their own, they might not have gotten very far."

"Like Lily and me are a team," Sophie reasoned.

Harry grinned first at Sophie, then at Lily. "Right. And just like you two, sometimes they did awesome things together, and sometimes they were mischievous together."

"I'll bet they couldn't switch places," Lily said smugly. She and Sophie got a kick out of the fact that though their closest family and friends could tell them apart, many more people couldn't. They'd switched places on teachers, babysitters, and paparazzi, and they'd had a blast doing so.

Harry shook his head. "No, they couldn't. But they had plenty of other kinds of fun, including moving all the knights' horses around in the stable stalls and replacing all the wooden arrows with rubber ones."

Louis laughed. "Weren't they clever?"

"The cleverest," Harry confirmed.

"What about Sir Harold and Sir Lewis?" Sophie wanted to know. "Did they like each other?"

"Of course they did," Louis assured her. "Just like I said, they were best friends."

"No! Did they like each other?" Sophie emphasised the word _like_. "Like you and Daddy."

"Oh!" Louis raised his eyebrows in understanding and beamed widely. "Indeed they did. Good observation, Soph."

She smiled proudly.

"It took them a little while to figure it out, though," Louis continued. "But one night, after they'd all been out celebrating making it through another week, they were alone together, and they kissed."

"You can't tell it like that," Harry protested.

"Oh really?" Louis retorted. "How should it be told?"

"Take Izzy for a few, and I'll show you."

"Absolutely." Louis carefully took their littlest one from his husband's arms and settled back against the couch. Izzy stirred for a brief moment, but then quieted down again as Louis guided a dummy that had been left on the coffee table into her mouth. "Okay, Haz, show me how it's done."

Harry urged the twins to come in closer, and they clambered over so they were one on either side of him. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders and pulled them in tight. "So, it was week three of the final big tournament. Sir Harold and Sir Lewis, along with their teammates, had had a great week. They all went out to dinner to celebrate.

"They were all living together in a big castle right in the middle of London, and when they got back from their grand dinner, Sir Harold and Sir Lewis went to the top of the highest tower. It was a beautiful night, not too cold even though it was October. They sat down on the tower roof and just talked," Harry said wistfully.

"What did they talk about?" Lily wondered aloud.

"Their hopes and dreams," Harry informed her. "What they wanted to do with their lives. They wanted to entertain people and make enough money at it that they could take care of their families. They were so excited that they both felt the same way about their futures."

Both Lily and Sophie were looking up at Harry with dreamy looks on their faces, eating the story up with spoons.

Smiling down at them, Harry went on, "Sir Harold had never met anyone quite as fetching as Sir Lewis."

"What's fetching, Daddy?" Sophie asked. "Is it like what Bruce does?" Bruce was their aging dog--left at home this weekend with Uncle Niall--who did still occasionally go to fetch something if Louis begged him in just the right way.

Harry chuckled. "No. It's another word for handsome."

"So Sir Lewis was handsome?" Sophie checked that she had interpreted Harry's assertion correctly.

"The very handsomest," Harry confirmed, looking up and across at Louis with a soft smile. "And I'm pretty sure Sir Lewis felt the same way about Sir Harold."

"He did," Louis threw in, smiling right back at Harry. "A hundred percent sure."

"Sir Harold realised he wanted to show Sir Lewis just how much he liked him, so right there on the tower roof, the moonlight shining down from right above them, Sir Harold kissed Sir Lewis. Thankfully, Sir Lewis kissed him back," Harry concluded.

The twins both sighed happily. Lily followed her sigh up with a question. "Did Sir Harold and Sir Lewis get married then?"

"Not right away," Harry answered. "They still had a tournament to try to win, remember?"

"Did they?" Sophie pressed.

"Well," Louis picked up the story. "They worked very hard each week, beating team after team, and they made it to the final. They just had to beat two final teams, and they would be the winner."

"What did they have to do to win, Papa?" Sophie inquired breathlessly.

"Well, they had to joust, of course," Louis replied, bouncing Izzy gently in his arms. "Each of the Five Knights Alive took a turn. Of course, Sir Lewis won his round, and Sir Harold won his, but Sir William fell off his horse, and Sir Nigel missed his target completely."

"What about Sir Malik?" Lily wanted to know.

"Sir Malik's joust ended in a draw."

"What's a draw?" Lily scrunched up her forehead in confusion, looking so much like Harry when she did so that it almost took Louis' breath away. "Is it like in Art?"

"No, sweetheart, though that's great thinking. It's another word for a tie," Louis enlightened her.

"So they didn't win?" Sophie concluded sadly.

Louis shook his head. "Nope, they came in third."

Lily and Sophie both looked so upset by the news that Harry ruffled their hair and assured them, "It was okay that they came in third. They decided to stay together as a group, and King Simon liked them so much that he agreed to help them tour all over the United Kingdom. They entertained people everywhere with all their tournament skills."

"And Sir Harold and Sir Lewis got married?" Lily asked, her voice full of hope.

"You're awfully anxious for them to tie the knot there, Lil," Louis teased.

"They have to get married, Papa, or it isn't a love story," Lily sagely informed him.

"I don't remember promising a love story," Louis said, fighting to keep his tone serious. "Do you, Haz?"

Harry shook his head solemnly. "Nope, I don't."

"But you said 'not right away,' Daddy," Lily pointed out. "Not never."

Harry playfully tweaked her nose. "You are too smart for your own good, Miss Lily."

"I'm smart, too, Daddy," Sophie put in, never one to be outdone.

"Of course you are," Harry confirmed, tweaking Sophie's nose for good measure. "So, you girls sure you want a love story?

"Yes, please, Daddy," the girls answered both simultaneously and politely.

"Okay, then." Harry shifted his gaze to his husband. "Do you want to handle this part or shall I?"

"You're the romantic in this relationship," Louis reminded him with a fond smile. "I think you should tell how it all ended."

"Well, like I said earlier, they didn't get married right away," Harry continued the tale. "They were happy just being together. And they were pretty busy knights. They would no sooner finish one tour of the United Kingdom than they would be invited to tour again. They even got to travel further into Europe, visiting cities like Paris and Rome and Madrid. Everyone loved Five Knights Alive, and the knights loved what they were doing. Sir Harold and Sir Lewis had each other, Sir William met a Princess called Sophia, and Sir Malik met a Princess called Perrin."

"What about Sir Nigel?" Sophie inquired before Harry could go on.

Louis offered her a wry smile. "Sir Nigel played the field."

"He played cricket?" Sophie was clearly wildly confused.

Louis stifled a chuckle before explaining, "No, that means he dated lots of beautiful women to try to find one special one to call his own." 

Sophie looked a little unconvinced that Louis' explanation made sense, but she seemed willing to let it go as she looked back up at Harry expectantly. "What happened next?"

Harry obliged. "The knights were in the middle of their third tour when Sir Harold and Sir Lewis unexpectedly discovered they were going to be fathers to two babies."

"Twins!" Lily cried happily. "Just like me and Sophie."

"Exactly like you and Sophie," Harry concurred with a grin. "After nine months, they were blessed with two beautiful baby girls called, funnily enough, Lily and Sophie, just like you two, and they loved them very much."

"So much they got married?" Sophie concluded optimistically.

Harry smiled. "So much they got married."

"Did Sir Harold propose or did Sir Lewis propose?" Lily demanded to know.

Louis met Harry's gaze with eyes filled with mirth. "You're complaining about me showing them _A Knight's Tale_ …. Maybe we need to cut down on the romantic comedies a little bit."

"There's nothing wrong with a good romantic comedy," Harry protested. "Right, girls?"

Just like they'd sided with Louis on the question of whether or not Heath Ledger's jousting tale was appropriate or not, the twins sided with Harry on this debate. "Right," they jointly concluded.

" _Love Actually_ is a classic," Sophie added smugly.

Louis smirked. "Like Daddy, like daughters."

"Who proposed?" Lily urgently repeated her inquiry.

"Impatient," Harry remarked. "Like Papa, like daughters."

Louis laughed, then let Lily out of her misery. "Sir Lewis proposed."

Lily gave another happy sigh. "I knew it."

"The babies were eight months old, and Sir Lewis and Sir Harold had taken them up north to visit their families for Christmas," Harry revealed. "One night, the babies' grandmother agreed to watch them so Sir Lewis and Sir Harold could go on a date.

"Sir Lewis had arranged for a romantic dinner at their favourite local establishment, a place called Rosso's," Harry continued. "They feasted on delicious garlic prawns and spaghetti bolognese before Sir Lewis ordered tiramisu for them for dessert. But instead of a plate with tiramisu on it, Sir Harold was served a plate with a small black box on it. Sir Lewis got down on one knee and asked for Sir Harold's hand in marriage. The black box had an engagement ring in it."

"Did Sir Harold say yes?" Sophie asked excitedly.

"What do you think?" Harry returned question for question.

She smiled widely. "I think he did."

"You're right. He did." Harry kissed the top of her head, making sure to offer Lily the same. "They got married on the beach the following summer."

"And they lived happily ever after?" Lily checked, just to be sure.

"Yes, sweet pea, they lived happily ever after," Harry assured her.

"Another story, another story!" Sophie immediately demanded.

Harry glanced down at his watch at the same time as Louis said, "Another story another time. It's time for little girls to go to sleep."

"Please, Papa?" Sophie begged, green eyes huge and longing.

Louis had been steeling himself against green-eyed pleading since he was eighteen, though, so it was a breeze to reply, "No. More tomorrow, I promise."

"Is Izzy asleep?" Harry wondered aloud.

Louis gazed down at their youngest daughter with a smile. She was resting quietly in his arms. "Out like a light."

"Girls, do you want to help me make a nest for your baby sister?" Harry questioned. He and Louis were both aware that the twins were still over-the-moon happy to be big sisters, and they loved nothing more than to be allowed to help take care of Isabelle.

The girls jumped up to follow Harry to the master bedroom to gather up blankets and pillows. When they returned to the fireplace, they helped Harry use the blankets to make a little nest for Izzy to sleep in. When the twins declared it good enough, Louis gently lowered the baby into the makeshift crib. Izzy mewled once in protest at being jostled, then she went right back to sleep.

The girls bent down--first Lily, then Sophie-- to kiss Izzy's forehead. "Good night, Izzy," Lily whispered.

"Sweet dreams," Sophie added softly, echoing the wishes she always got from their fathers at bedtime.

"Okay, girls. Time to get ready for bed," Louis ordered, pushing himself up off of the floor now he didn't have a baby to tend to. He grabbed a torch and turned it on, gesturing to the twins to follow.

Lily and Sophie dutifully rose as one, and Louis led the way to first the girls' bedroom for nightgowns, then to the washroom for evening ablutions. When they were as ready as they were going to be, they trailed Louis back into the lounge.

Harry had set up a pillow at either end of the couch and had several blankets laid out to keep the girls warm. He ushered Lily onto one end of the couch and Sophie onto the opposite end. Louis tucked Lily under two warm blankets, and Harry did the same for Sophie.

As had become their routine ever since the twins were tiny, Harry and Louis kissed the temple of the twin they'd tucked in, then switched places.

"We love you," Louis whispered to Sophie when it was his turn with her.

"Sleep well, baby girl," Harry whispered to Lily.

"Night, Papa. Night, Daddy," Lily and Sophie whispered back, in sync as they so often were.

Harry and Louis spread the few remaining blankets out in front of the fireplace, then Louis slotted himself in between Harry's legs, leaning his back against Harry's chest.

"I hope the power's back in the morning," Louis wished softly so as not to disturb the small people who were trying to sleep.

"Me, too," Harry agreed. "But this wasn't too bad tonight, was it?"

Louis shook his head. "Nope. Not bad at all."

They were silent then, for a moment, just listening to the crackling of the fire and the gentle breathing of their three little girls.

"You were my knight in shining armour, Louis," Harry admitted into the silence. "From the moment we met in that outhouse."

Louis's laugh was low, but full of joy. "And you mine."

"I couldn't have dreamed up a greater happily ever after than this one," Harry went on to say, kissing the top of Louis' shoulder.

"Nor could I," Louis concurred. "You and the girls are everything to me."

Harry yawned at that moment, and Louis followed suit.

"Ready for bed, Sir Lewis?" Harry asked.

"Indeed I am, Sir Harold," Louis returned primly. "Our littlest princess will no doubt be up bright and early, power or no power."

Harry stood up only long enough to grab two of the pillows he and the girls had dragged back from the master bedroom. Louis used this time to move the blankets over to an area rug a safe distance from the fire, not far from Izzy's nest.

They climbed under the blankets, and Louis curled around Harry, kissing his neck and shoulder tenderly.

They lay there quietly, just reveling in their little family, all gathered together in one room, their girls, happy and healthy, and this mini-break in between tours. Life was good. Life was very good.

"Hey," Louis disturbed the quiet, "you think we should let Sir Nigel know his niece thinks he's an ace cricket player?"

Harry's soft peals of laughter were what lulled him to sleep. That, and the knowledge that his story could not have turned out better. Not even if it had tried.

End (29 November 2014)


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